The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

"claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")

"million pounds" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)

",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)

"00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)

This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:

They don't notify winners by email.

You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.

They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.

They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.

They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.

They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.

They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!

This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.

*
**
**The Board of Directors, members of staff and the International Awareness
Promotion Department of the Volkswagen International Company wishes to
congratulate you on your success as the STAR PRIZE WINNER in this years'
Volkswagen International Awareness Promotion (I A P) held in may 14th July,
2008.*
*
It is a promotional program aimed at promoting Volkswagen NEW AUTO CAR
SERIES to the world market. While participants were selected through random
selection in our Computerized Email Selection System (C.E.S.S.) from a
database of over 5,000,000 names/email addresses of individual and companies
from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, and New
Zealand.

Your email address emerges a proud winner under the Second Category
with a prize of brand new 2008 Volkswagen New CAMRY, and Star Cash
Prize of £500,000.00
(FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS) . The car comes with a special Volkswagen
Insurance Cover for one whole year, that is, till the next promotion in
2008. It also comes with a one year warranty and FREE repairs at any
Volkswagen INTERNATIONAL depot or service station worldwide.

The Volkswagen e-Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also
Licensed by the The International Association of Gaming Regulators (I A G
R). This promotional lottery is the 3rd of its kind and we intend to
sensitize the public.

This is the first promotional program for the year 2008.It is
absolutely the biggest bonanza in this year stakes.We are proud to say that
over 14 Million pounds are won annually in more than 150 countries world
wide.

Consequently,you have therefore been approved for a total pay out of
£500,000.00 only.its it a promo to encourage the use of Volkswagen world
wide.

For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information
confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize
released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programmed by
non-participant or none-official Personnel.

NOTE:
All winnings must be claimed within 15th of August 2008. After this date
all unclaimed funds would be donated to charity homes.Remember to quote
you reference information in all correspondence with your Claims agent.